My aim is to offer insights into some of the more subtle principles underpinning prints. The commentary is based on thirty-eight years of teaching and the prints and other collectables that I am focusing on are those which I have acquired over the years.
In the galleries of prints (accessed by clicking the links immediately below) I am also adding fresh images offered for sale. If you get lost in the maze of links, simply click the "home" button to return to the blog discussions.

Condition: crisp impression trimmed on the platemark at the top
edge and with narrow margins on the sides and bottom. The sheet is in excellent
condition for its age (i.e. there are no tears, holes, abrasions, stains or
foxing but there are very minor signs of handling visible verso).

I am selling this visually stunning engraving from the Renaissance
era for the total cost of AU$276 (currently US$215.44/EUR179.96/GBP159.66 at
the time of this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the
world.

If you are interested in purchasing this fabulous print seldom
seen on the art market, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and
I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

This print has been sold

This is such a bizarre image. For those unfamiliar with the twelve
“The Labours of Hercules”, this scene shows Hercules in his second
“labour”/trial in the act of bashing heads from the mythological creature, the
Hydra of Lerna, like a star baseball player. At this precise moment in the
action, Hercules has just lopped off one of the Hydra’s nine heads—the exact number
varies with who is telling the story (but I like things with nine heads).
Nothing is easy for Hercules. I understand that when he knocks off a head with
his club another two heads appear in its place. If that wasn’t a problem in
itself, the breath of this critter is also poisonous and its blood is so
awfully smelly that the stench is hazardous to poor Hercules health.
Fortunately, Hercules is aided by his nephew, Iolaus, who cauterized the neck
of the monster when a head is removed and thus, in collaboration, they subdue
it. To add further excitement to Hercules’ battle with the Hydra, Juno—a
goddess who harbours a strong dislike for Hercules and his manly ways—decides
to send a squadron of crabs to bite his toes. (ooch!)

For those unfamiliar Frans Floris who designed this composition,
according to the British Museum’s bibliographical details about this artist, he
is famous “for his heroic feats of drinking.” Interesting, Floris was able to condense
the “Twelve Labours of Hercules” to just ten.